Problem is, I'm a fish eater, he's a meat eater - who despises fish. And mushrooms. Which renders our dinner date a wee bit awkward. What I did instead was use Hollywood's empanada recipe but construct my own filling that wasn't chicken and chorizo. I also made both the empanada dough and the filling the night before to make life a bit easier making the dinner. Because there were only two of us, I halved Paul Hollywood's recipe too.
Ingredients
Empanada dough
- 150 g plain flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 beaten egg
- 75 g melted butter
- 3-5 tablespoons cold water
- milk to glaze before oven
For the filling (this ended up with quite a bit left over, I was estimating a bit!)
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 2 small onions
- 2 small cloves of garlic
- teaspoon of cumin
- teaspoon of turmeric
- 50 g sultanas
- approx 100g feta cheese
Method
1) For the empanada dough, mix the flour, beaten egg, pinch of salt, melted butter, and a splash of water in a large mixing bowl until combined.
2) Knead for 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface and wrap in foil. Put it in the fridge.
3) For the filling, slice the onions and sweat over a low heat.
4) Once softened, add chopped up peppers and crushed garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes.
5) Put in the sultanas, stir through and plonk in a tub.
6) When ready, put the oven on 200 degrees to preheat and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
7) I found the dough had gone very stiff and difficult to roll in the fridge, so I microwaved it for 15 seconds.
8) Roll out to about 3-4mm thick on a lightly floured surface.
9) Use a small bowl (I used a cocktail shaker) to cut out circles about 2.5 inches across.
10) NOW FOR THE TRICKY BIT. You have your dough circles. You have your filling. Get a bowl of water to dampen the edges and a fork for crimping.
12) Repeat until all the discs are filled.
13) Place on the lined baking tray and brush with milk.
14) Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and crisp.
I had about a third of the filling mix left over, so added to cous cous with chickpeas the next day for a brilliant salad. Definitely going to try these again!!